From Stage to Silver Screen: Top 15 Movie Musicals of the Last 50 Years

By Ben Rimalower
14 Sep 2013

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6. "Annie" (1982, directed by John Huston)

Another controversial addition to this list (and another film I grew up watching again and again) is the big screen adaption of the Broadway megahit Annie. I suppose an old-fashioned musical like "Annie" wasn't what was trendy in the early 80s and fans of the stage show were no doubt disappointed with a movie that skimped on much of the satire and irony in favor of a more straight-shot approach. Nonetheless, "Annie" had me hook, line and sinker. If Aileen Quinn in the title role lacked Andrea McArdle's beguiling brawn and brilliant belt, she was a kind of an everyman that offered an entire generation a way into the Depression-Era story. And the rest of the cast was absolutely stellar: Carol Burnett was hysterically funny, absolutely fabulous and in top voice as Miss Hannigan, Albert Finney was definitive as Warbucks, Ann Reinking was elegant and beautiful as Grace and Tim Curry and Bernadette Peters were deliciously salacious and irrepressible as Rooster and Lily. I could watch "Annie" right now.